iPhone 3G 2008

IPHONE 3G
Today is the official release for the 3G iPhone and what an exciting day it is. Considering I couldn't really sleep last night and also an outfit change because I really dressed up for the event but it was too hot (even at 5AM).

05:30
Arrived at Starbucks, ordered a grande awake, 1 bag, 2 honey packets, room for milk, with a cranberry scone. Line snakes around already, I am number 27. I busted out my laptop, mahalo nui Kahala Mall, Apple Store and Starbucks for providing free Wi-Fi. I checked emails and yeah nothing exciting.

06:00
There are 68 people in line 2 hours before the opening of the the Apple Store. My foot cramped earlier and I had to stand up and walk around.

06:30
I figured I'd start talking to everyone as oppose to having my headset on and ignoring everyone. LOL Apple employees started passing out brochures, but hello. Ummmm... do you think people would stand in line if they didn't know what they were getting into? Then again, I guess I shouldn't put it past people.

IN FRONT OF ME

BEHIND ME


07:00
Everyone is in the chatting mood. Talking about Verizon, AT&T Tilt, smartphones, iPhone features (plus and minuses - still no MMS or SMS forwarding or saving attachments), how the line is all the way at the movie theater (about 120 long now). Starbucks is passing out ice coffee and ice tea (YUM).

STARBUCKS


07:30
VIDEO QUEUE
(sort of shaky, please realize, I've had black tea and ice tea!)


08:00
Who hooooo! Party time! The 1st people are allowed into the Apple Store.
APPLE STORE


09:10
Jerome picks me out of the line to help me with the iPhone purchase and activation.(yes he is cute!) :) Here he is helping me with the grand opening of the 3G iPhone.

OFFICIAL UNVEILING OF THE 3G IPHONE (with Jerome)


09:17
I am out of the Apple Store, and guess what? My new phone works like a charm. No activation problems here! They said 2-4 hours, I walked to my car and yup, its working!

10:30
At work, and yes, not really working, syncing and updating my new iPhone, the 16GB is perfect, I have 3 movies, 20 TV shows, 40 music videos, 1000 songs (at least) and that's not even using 1/2 the memory! Other than that I will be shipping our my Xbox 360 and the 1st gen iPhone to my sister! :)

Official preliminary reviews. Its a solid phone, with better sound quality, both in call sounds and in speakerphone. I really enjoy the new App Store feature. Its a streamlined process and yup, I only have 200 SMS, please get me on AIM - hawaiiinsomniac@mac.com (I am not sure if you need the @mac.com). I really like the 16GB, I have about 6GB of room, and wow, that's a lot of stuff in the phone. I really want to get a case, but we'll see. I am waiting for official reviews on the Apple site before spending $30-$40 on a new case.

UPDATE
I love these APPS! My favorite has to be the "Remote" (surprisingly not called iRemote), and its crazy! You can control you iTunes from your iPhone! I am not too impressed with eBay's app. I love the Pandora app, great way to stream music. Movies app is pretty cool and pretty self-explanatory. I purchased the game Enigma, and yup, its good fun!

3G IPHONE PHOTOS
Back

Side

Front (notice AIM app!)


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

RROD

RROD
RROD might not mean a lot to most people, but if you're a game, specifically a XBOX 360 gamer, you've heard of the dreaded RROD (Red Ring of Death). After downloading the Top Spin 3 demo yesterday, I wanted to take it out for a test drive. Low and belold, the RROD. FCUK! Fortunately, I registered my XBOX 360, and what do you know, its comes with a 3 year warranty. Granted its going to take 3 weeks and probably longer, since postage alone is going to take 1-2 weeks, but hey, its free. I need to get back to running again anyways, but no biggie, I'll be spending some quality game time with my iPhone 3G, suckas!

RROD


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

To iPhone 3G or not to iPhone 3G?

3G
I have been debating for sometime now whether to upgrade to the new 3G iPhone. Hear me out.

CONS
I don't really care about the 3G. I have WiFi at home and at work. The GPS is a nice add-on, but hello, I live on an island. I pretty much know where I am going. All of the new additions will be included with the free upgrade (iPhone 2.0). The App Store (where you can download application straight to your iPhone, to include IM and games), the Scientific Calculator, the Microsoft Activesync will all be a free upgrade to the current iPhone. Not to mention the costs, the same plan I have now will cost me $15 more. My current plan of 450 minutes (which is way sufficient - thank you roll over minutes), 1500 SMS, and of course, free night and weekends and mobile to mobile phone calls) currently costs me $69.99 (plus taxes and blah blah), with the new iPhone plan, the same structure will cost me $84.99.

PROS
I've read 3 reviews (NY TIMES, WSJ, USA TODAY) and all of them pretty much say the same thing more or less, the call quality and the speakerphone is a HUGE improvement, to me though the biggest improvement will be the storage. There will be lots of applications available for downloads and I am not sure if 4GB will be enough. I currently have 180GB of data in iTunes, and my current iPhone doesn't allow me to carry movies around, though I do have many music videos (13), songs (428), photos (189), and still have 596MB available (a 20 minute video or another 100 songs). That is my major incentive for purchasing a new iPhone, not to mention I have already promised it to my sister. Eeps!

UPGRADE?
If I do upgrade, I will be reducing my texting plan from 1500 to 200. So yeah, if you send me a text, I will probably call you back or send you an email. I am sure with the new updates IM will be available and I do have Google Talk and AIM with my .mac account.

IPHONE FACTS


BLOG - UPDATES
As many of you know, I have reduced the number of blogs I have sent out via email. I suggest uploading a live bookmark or a RSS feed. Here is my RSS Feed: http://hawaiiinsomniac.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

7.4.2008, Tennis Ranking, Thinnest Ranking, Visiting Time

7.4.2008
My 4th of July was spent at Kualoa Beach Park. It was a great experience. Being in the outdoors, camping, without a cell phone (I turned it off for the weekend). No TV, no internet, no getting dressed up, just sun, beach, fun and of course, FOOD! Ho' cuz, get plenty food fo eat!
Scary Story Time.

Chinaman's Hat

Sunrise


TENNIS RANKING
Yes, I called it, Venus is the winner of the Wimbledon Ladies Championship against Serena. Serena is also a winner, she won with Venus on the Wimbledon Ladies Pairs Championship. Cool thing is Jie Zhang's ranking went from 144 to 40, Venus stays put at #7, and Serena moves up a spot to #5. The ranking system is a little weird, but its pretty simple. The points you earn expire in a year. Last year, Venus won the championship, so those points were erased and she earned the same amount of points, henceforth, staying at #7 in the world.
Ladies Winner

Ladies' Pairs Winners


THINNEST RANKING
Hawaii is the 2nd slimmest state in the USA. WHOOT WHOOT! Don't HATE!


VISITING TIME
My roommate will be on vacation from October 16-27. Thinking of visiting Hawaii? Start planning!

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Venus vs. Serena - Wimbledon 2008

VENUS VS SERENA

Venus beat Dementieva, the latter never really standing a chance. Watching the 1st set was really painful. Venus just played way inside the baseline and with Dementieva's serve, Venus just punished her with her returns. The second set was quite different, but needless to say Venus is onto the Wimbledon Finals...

And so is Serena. This was tough for me to watch because I was cheering for Serena and for Jie. I've watched all of Jie's previous matches, and yeah she's awesome. She's only 5'4" and is ranked like 130+ in the world. Ok, first I admire her. She is donating all of her winning to her hometown, which was devastated by the earthquake. It was like she was playing for her country. She beat the #1 player in the world, Ana, in straight sets. She's the first Chinese person to make it to a semi-final of a Grand slam event! That's huge! The 2nd set was SOOOO exciting! I was literally cheering and screaming for Jie! She almost forced a 3rd set against Serena in the semi-finals. She had a set point against Serena, but the final score: 6-2 7-6 to Serena's favor. Congrats Zheng Jie!

I'm really excited about the final. The previous finals they have played against each other has really been one-sided. I think they've come a long way, and its been a while since they played in a Grand slam final.

My monies are on Venus Williams. I've always been a fan, and she's a 4 time winner, losing twice in the finals to Serena at Wimbledon, but times are a changing.

Go VENUS!

Height


Zheng Jie


Serena Williams


Venus Williams


UPDATE
Williams/Williams are also in the doubles final. Yes, not only are Venus and Serena playing in the final, but they are also in the Ladies doubles Final. They just won 6-3, 6-3 and they're looking great. What most people might not know, is they have 6 major doubles title, but they haven't been playing doubles, but I think its more of a preparation for the Olympics and not to mention to compliment their singles game. There aren't any grass courts here in the US, so the more time you spend playing, the more comfortable you'll be in court.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.